Hafeez scored 115, reaching his maiden century in his 62nd
game, and captain Shahid Afridi smashed a half century from 19 balls as
Pakistan made 293-7 in 50 overs after being sent in to bat.
Umar Gul took 2-31 and Hafeez 1-25 as Pakistan held New
Zealand to 250-9 in reply, leveling the six-match series.
New Zealand won the first match at Wellington by nine
wickets and the second match at Queenstown was abandoned because of rain.
New Zealand's captain Ross Taylor — filling in for regular
captain Daniel Vettori who was rested — sent Pakistan in to bat, expecting his
seamers to make the most of a green pitch.
“When we turned up the pitch was the same color as the
outfield,” Taylor said. “I've never seen a wicket that color a couple of hours
before a match.” The appearance proved deceptive. Though Pakistan lost opener
Ahmed Shehzad in the second over, batting proved much more easy than Taylor had
expected.
Hafeez reached his half century off 65 balls and went on to
build a series of productive partnerships, putting on 48 for the third wicket
with Younis Khan (12) and 94 for the fourth with Misbah ul-Haq (35).
He reached his century in 175 minutes, providing the
foundation of the Pakistan innings and allowing later batsmen — Afridi
particularly — to accelerate the scoring.
“I wasn't thinking about the century. I was just
concentrating on occupying the crease because I felt I'd missed out on a couple
of opportunities in the test series and I wanted to take advantage of the
opportunity here,” Hafeez said.
With Hafeez holding up his end, Afridi was able to lash out
and he dashed to a brilliant half century from 19 balls, eventually making 65
from only 25 deliveries with five fours and five sixes.
Pakistan was helped by poor fielding from the New Zealand
team. Brendon McCullum — the only specialist wicketkeeper in New Zealand's
World Cup squad — showed the effects of recent inactivity in tests, dropping
two catches and missing an easy stumping.
New Zealand also mismanaged its run chase, failing to
establish a steady tempo of its innings and delaying its batting power play
until its specialist batsmen had been dismissed.
Scott Stryis (46) and Kane Williamson (42) put on 81 for the
fourth wicket in the best partnership of the innings but scored too slowly and
left too large a task for the remaining batsmen.
By the time its heavier hitters came to the wicket, the run
rate was beyond New Zealand.
Umar
Gul bowled superbly to contain the home side, taking 2-31 from 10 overs while
Hafeez took 1-25 from 5 and Wahab Riaz 2-43 from 8.
